PHILADELPHIA — Several Rangers stood out in their 4-1 victory over the Flyers on Tuesday night that gave them a 2-1 series lead. None more, however, than Daniel Carcillo.

“When you get pigeonholed into a role, it’s hard to change people’s minds in this league,” Carcillo said after he took a bad penalty, got flattened by a blindside hit, screamed at the referees and, finally, scored the final goal for a plus-2 night.

“When you get in and you get an opportunity like this, you’ve got to make the most of it,” he said.

Carcillo is a former Flyer whose presence often leads to mayhem. Coach Alain Vigneault inserted him into the lineup for the first time in the playoffs, both to spark the Rangers after a listless third period in Sunday’s 4-2 loss, and to goad the Flyers into taking penalties.

“I knew putting him in the lineup would bring energy,” Vigneault said.

The Rangers were the best road team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, and they felt at home at the Wells Fargo Center, absorbing every body blow and offensive assault the Flyers threw at them.

Martin St. Louis continued his revival with a goal and an assist. Dan Girardi also scored a goal and had an assist and stood out defensively. Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves, quieting critics who questioned his performance after Game 2. And the Rangers blocked 28 shots.

“Minus the bad penalty, I’m happy with my game,” Carcillo said. “Maybe not yelling at the refs as well.”

It was a chippy game, with plenty of pushing and shoving. In the first period, Claude Giroux, the Flyers’ frustrated top-line center, whacked at the hands of Marc Staal and Derick Brassard but was not penalized. But after a whistle in the second period, Carcillo roughed up Giroux and was penalized.

Photo

Dan Girardi celebrating his goal in the second period that put the Rangers ahead, 3-1.Credit
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Rangers killed off the subsequent power play, en route to a perfect 5 for 5 on the penalty kill.

In the third period, with the Rangers up by 3-1, the Flyers’ Matt Read skated past Carcillo and hit him with a glancing blow, a drive-by head shot that knock Carcillo flat. He lay on the ice for some time.

“I wasn’t looking at him, and his shoulder went into my face,” Carcillo said.

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Carcillo returned for the next shift and broke up a scoring chance with a great defensive play, but was called for hooking. He started screaming at the referees. “He got a little animated,” Vigneault said.

But to rub salt in the Flyers’ wounds, Brian Boyle broke up ice as the power play ended and Carcillo exited the penalty box. Boyle fed a perfect pass at the goal mouth to Carcillo, who tapped it in at 10 minutes 53 seconds for his first goal of the playoffs.

Carcillo was mobbed by his teammates as Flyers fans booed.

“I was pretty excited,” he said.

The Rangers controlled play early and took advantage of a shaky performance goaltender Ray Emery. Late in the game Emery was pulled in favor of Steve Mason, who had missed the first two games of the series with an upper body injury. Emery allowed four goals on 20 shots.

Derek Stepan opened the scoring 3:54 into the game after Emery spilled Rick Nash’s centering pass out of his glove.

At 10:24, St. Louis made the score 2-0, deftly redirecting Girardi’s soft shot from the blue line. St. Louis also assisted on Stepan’s goal, giving him 2 goals and 3 assists in the series, the most for any player.

St. Louis, the defending scoring champion, slumped in his first 17 games after being traded from Tampa Bay. He has scored points in five consecutive games. Earlier Tuesday, he learned that he was a finalist for the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play, an award he has won three previous times.

The Flyers got back in the game at 17:18, when defenseman Mark Streit scored.

But at 5:17 of the second period, Girardi’s laser from the blue line eluded Emery’s glove hand, giving the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

SLAP SHOTS

Commissioner Gary Bettman said before the game that the Islanders owner Charles Wang told him Tuesday morning that he was still “listening to expressions of interest” from potential buyers of the team but had not decided on whether to pursue them. Bettman said the team remained contractually bound to play at Nassau Coliseum next season before moving to Brooklyn for 2015-16. ... Bettman also made a “ballpark guess” that the salary cap next season would be around $69 million to $70 million, up from this season’s $64.3 million but down slightly from earlier estimates of $71 million. He said the falling Canadian dollar accounted for the lower estimate.

A version of this article appears in print on April 23, 2014, on Page B14 of the New York edition with the headline: Steady Rangers Capitalize on Shaky Game by Flyers’ Goalie. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe